Join us in welcoming Cheyenne to her new role as Steel Smiling Program Coordinator of Steel Healing! Cheyenne spent 2025 completing her one-year position as a Peer Support Fellow with Steel Smiling, where he became trained and equipped to use his lived experience of mental illness and healing to provide education, support, and advocacy to community members seeking mental health support. Through the fellowship design, Steel Smiling supported Peer Support Fellows in obtaining training and certification in a community-based mental health worker role of their choice (ex: Certified Peer Specialist, Certified Recovery Specialist, or other appropriate role) while working within the Steel team’s current programs.
Read the Q&A below to hear about Cheyenne’s experience as a Peer Support Fellow, and what she hopes to bring to her new role on the team!
Q: What did your experience as a peer support specialist mean to you?
A: “My experience as a peer support fellow with Steel Smiling was one that was transformational. Becoming a certified peer specialist put language to the work I’ve been doing for nearly a decade within my community (holding space, sharing stories of lived experiences, sharing resources and wisdom, etc.)
My experience also grounded me in my knowing that mental health and healing is not achieved in a silo. It is communal and spiritual. It’s challenging at times. And it’s not always clinical. This experience reminded me how important my voice and presence are, and that community care is a necessity.”
Q: Why is peer to peer support important in the community mental health space?
A: “I want to be clear…the peer-to-peer model at Steel smiling is very different than traditional peer-to-peer space nationwide. Often times these spaces are clinical and cold.
Community peer support at Steel Smiling emphasizes reciprocating lived experiences. In the mental health and clinical space, you see a lot of people, especially Black folks, have a serious distrust of providers, supports and systems. Which makes sense. There has been systematic harm that targeted a specific community for generations. We as mental health advocates, practitioners and community members must ensure we rebuild trust and restore that friction. We do this by centering healing justice, a mutual cultural understanding and respect.”
Q: Reflect on your signature events. How did your work inform the creation of these? What was the outcome and impact of them?
A: “Heart Strings, the storytelling event that I curated and hosted, was a direct reflection of my work. Heart Strings was created to offer a space for community of all races, ages and backgrounds to come together to witness healing, storytelling, and the healing power of music and community.
The impact of heart strings was deeply felt. There were nearly 70 people who came to witness this night, and many of them shared openly how there are not many spaces that allow you to experience grief, trauma, joy and healing all at once. Heart Strings fostered emotional connection, a sense of belonging and healing and affirmed to me how powerful community healing can be with intention and care.”
Q: What pieces of your experience from your time as a peer support specialist will you bring with you into your new role on the Steel Smiling team?
A: “As a peer support specialist, you are trained on values such as mutuality, authenticity, respect for lived experiences, dignity….and these are just a few things I will bring into my role as a Steel Healing program Coordinator.
I will also bring my understanding that healing is not always linear and clinical – that at Steel Smiling, mental health work is rooted in something different. I bring expertise of creating and facilitating spaces that feel human, accessible, supportive, safe and where individuals can show up as who they are.”
Q: What work are you most excited for or looking forward to in 2026?
A: “In 2026, I’m most excited for the opportunity to expand on my offerings from during my fellowship. I would like to deepen my work as an educator, advocate, storyteller and healer.
I’m looking forward to expanding programming within Steel Healing, offering both operational and programming supports.
I’m especially excited to expand and continue my efforts in creating communal spaces where complex feelings are invited and we work through them together.
I’m also looking forward to collaborating with the Steel Smiling team to grow innovative, non-clinical approaches to mental wellness that feel accessible, culturally grounded, and rooted in community wisdom.
2026 feels like an opportunity to deepen impact and to strengthen relationships, expand offerings, and continue shaping spaces where people feel seen, supported, and empowered to care for themselves and one another.”
